Friday, September 18, 2015

We may be down but we're not done yet! (Indy Eleven V FC Edmonton 9/19/2015 Preview)

The Ed, Edd, Eddy's are coming!

Indy Eleven's loss against San Antonio further emphasized the teams inability to find any kind of consistency in 2015. Although mathematically no team in the NASL is out of the playoff race yet, with only seven games remaining and the current top four becoming increasingly more consistent, you would have to believe our chances of making it are pretty slim.

However, there is a lot to play for. Indy Eleven need to concentrate on accumulating as many wins and points as possible, especially at home for the supporters who continue to turn up for this team. The most important thing is to show some kind of improvement from last year. We currently sit one point from the bottom of the fall table and only two points from the bottom of the combined table. I think it is very important for Indy Eleven to not end up bottom of the pile on both counts. That should be the focus now.

As the fall season winds to an end, this is also a time for all current players on the roster to show why they should be asked to stay when Indy begins the squad rebuilding process in spring of 2016. It's time for some of the fringe players to step up and show why they were brought to the team.

Indy Eleven V Edmonton......

Indy had one of their best wins of 2015 at home to Edmonton in the final game of the spring season, dismantling the Alberta side by three goals to nil giving new interim head coach Tim Regan back to back wins before the break.

Indy travelled to Edmonton on the back of a very poor home performance and loss against Atlanta Silverbacks. Whether the intention in that match was to rest players or not, the fact is we made eight changes to the starting lineup and it proved costly. Indy fell by a score of 2-0 against what has to be said was a rather ordinary looking Edmonton side. A few days later Indy returned home and were thrashed 4-1 by the then top team Ottawa Fury.

That win for Edmonton brought them out of a huge slump and since then they have won a further eight points and pushed themselves up to 5th in the fall standings. That match aside, Indy know they have the beating of Edmonton, it is not a team we should drop points to at home. They will be at near full strength and we may see the return of striker Ameobi, also with players like Laing, Nyassi and Fordyce they are a big attacking threat.

Indy will be able to field their preferred starting back four with Kyle Hyland returning from a bout of flu, this could be crucial. Add to that Indy are coming off the back of a loss and will be looking to bounce right back. This will make it difficult for Edmonton and I expect this to be a pretty tight game.

There are no new injuries for Indy Eleven. Charlie Rugg will remain out with a sports hernia, Pena is nearing a return but lacks any kind of match fitness so likely will not feature. Otherwise all other players are fit and eligible for selection.

Expect a similar roster for this match, coach may decide to rotate some of the bench players to give them time. I don't expect to see huge changes to the starting lineup, at most possibly one or two.

FC Edmonton will likely play a combination of 4-5-1 coming back and 4-3-3 going forward, allowing them to defend in numbers and attack quickly. The Eddies are a large physical team and very fast on the counter with numerous goal scorers. Our back line will have to be on point for 90 minutes and our midfield will need to break down any attack as quickly and as far up the field as possible.